


Band-Aids Don't Fix Bulletholes

by coldflashwavebaby



Series: Turning Tables [1]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alpha Leonard Snart, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Future Fic, M/M, Omega Barry Allen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-10 22:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11700930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldflashwavebaby/pseuds/coldflashwavebaby
Summary: The last person Barry had expected to be knocking on his front door was Leonard Snart.





	Band-Aids Don't Fix Bulletholes

**Author's Note:**

> You may recognize this as "Moving on" from my Prompt Fills, but I changed it to an A/B/O because I've always wanted to write one, and now there's a whole AU around this story that I'm making.   
> (BTW, I didn't tag Len as abusive, because I'm trying not to make him that way. Like, he could be seen as emotionally abusive, I guess, but I don't think Barry sees it that way, and he's never physically abused any of them. Like, he isn't a good father or husband/Alpha, but I'm going to explore his reasons for doing the things he did later. I mean, I'm not excusing his actions, I'm just saying I haven't made him an abusive douchebag.)

            The last person Barry had expected to be knocking on his front door was Leonard Snart. He stared, wide-eyed, at his ex-husband, _his Alpha,_ unsure of what to say.

            “Hey, Bare.” He smiled, like the past four years hadn’t happened, like they hadn’t gone through so much hurt and pain. “Sorry to drop in like this, but…”

            Barry slammed the door shut. He didn’t _want_ to see Len. How had he found them? They were supposed to be hidden. But a foot blocked the door jamb. “Scarlet.” Len called. “I just want to talk. Whatever you think, this isn’t it. Trust me.”

            And _how dare he._ Barry threw open the door angrily. “No!” He scowled. “You don’t get to say that. You don’t get to call me ‘Scarlet’ or ask me to trust you. Not after everything you’ve done! Now, go away, or I will _make_ you.”

            Len just rolled his eyes. “Barry, look at me! _Really_ look at me, and you’ll know whoever did those things wasn’t me.”

            Barry didn’t want to look at Len. All it would do is make him angry, make all those ugly feelings come back. But he forced himself to raise his eyes to the Alpha’s face. At first, he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to be seeing. Then, he noticed his hair.

            It was salt and peppered, but the gray hadn’t quite taken over his head. His skin was smoother than the last time Barry had seen him. His eyes were sparkling in a way Barry hadn’t seen in years. Then, he realized—his mark wasn’t throbbing. Being that close to his Alpha, his Omega instincts should have been kicking up like crazy. He shouldn’t have been able to shut the door in Len’s face if the Alpha wanted in.

That could only mean one thing.

            This wasn’t his Len. This was some past version, still on his travels in the Waverider, long before they married, before they mated, and before everything in their lives fell apart. He steeled himself.

            “When are you from?” He forced himself to ask. He didn’t really care if Len was from the past or the present—he didn’t want to see his ex—but he knew that the quickest way to get rid of him would be to cooperate.

            “2017.” Len answered, shoving his hands in his jacket pockets. “Is it possible to talk about this somewhere other than your front stoop?”

            No. Barry didn’t want Len in his house. He didn’t want them around…

            He shook his head, pulling the door closed to block sight into the house. “No, I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

            A look passed over Len’s face, like he was ready to argue the point—of course he was—when loud footsteps came barreling down the stairs. Shit.

            “Dad, dad, dad!” He turned to see Michael, Joseph, and Elise were all running towards him.

            “What did I tell you about running down the stairs?” Barry scolded, accidentally releasing the door so it swung open all the way.

            “Dad, Joseph used his powers!” Michael tattled. His other son pushed him.

            “Did not! He’s just mad that I won battleship! Ask Ellie!”

            His youngest, however, was staring at the open doorway. “Daddy!” She grinned, running straight for Len.

            Len, for his part, was frozen in shock as his future five-year-old daughter wrapped her arms around his legs. Michael and Joseph both froze, as well, their eyes wide with fear. Unlike Elise, they were both old enough to remember what their father had done, what he continued to do.

            He laid a hand on his eight-year-old twins’ shoulders. “It’s fine, boys. It’s not really him.”

It would be too hard to explain to his sons that this version of their father was from the past, that there was a time when Barry believed in the goodness in Leonard Snart’s heart, and Len had been a hero. All they remembered was the Secret Society of Super-Villains; Len kidnapping them and Barry under the guise of “protecting them” from Lex Luthor and the rest of the Society; holding them for almost a year against their will; Barry risking everything to get them away; the battle between the Justice League and the Society in the streets of Metropolis, where Len shot Barry down in anger and nearly killed him.

This wasn’t that Len, though. This was the one who sent him flowers with secret notes, who fought to protect time, who woke Barry up with kisses and stayed up with him when his nightmares were too much.

Elise held her arms up. “Up, Daddy. Up!”

Len shook himself out of his trance and, without hesitation, scooped his future daughter into his arms. His eyes lit up, and Barry’s heart broke. There was never a doubt in his mind that Len loved their children, or even that he loved him. He had no idea what was to come for them, though.

“Come in, I guess.” Barry stepped to the side, and Len walked inside cautiously. Len wasn’t dumb, after all. He was almost certain that he’d noticed the way Michael and Joseph stepped quickly out of his way, putting Barry between them. Elise rested her head on Len’s shoulder, though, and that made Len smile.

“Why don’t you three go back upstairs and wash up?” Barry suggested. “Dinner’s almost ready, and Daddy and I need to talk.”

Michael and Joseph nodded, backing slowly towards the stairs to keep Len in their sights. Barry could’ve swore frost covered the banister where Michael touched it. Len sadly placed Elise back on the floor.

“Daddy, are you staying for dinner?” She asked hopefully. Michael and Joseph paused on the stairs, both looking to Barry.

Len sighed. “I’m sorry, Doodle Bug.” It’d been so long since Barry heard that nickname, but Elise’s face lit up. “I have some friends who need my help. I just need to get something from your Dad, and then I have to leave.”

Elise’s face fell, and Barry could tell it broke Len’s heart. Then, she flashed forward and wrapped her arms around Len’s neck.

Barry heard a faint, “I love you, Daddy” before she zipped away again, past her brothers and up the stairs. 

“NO RUNNING ON THE STAIRS!” Barry shouted after her. He grabbed Len’s arm and pulled him towards the kitchen. Without sparing a look at his ex, he grabbed his oven mitts and took the baked chicken he’d been preparing out of the oven.

“So, what do you need from me?” He asked, heading for the fridge to pull out the salad he’d already prepared.

“What happened, Scarlet?” He barely heard Len’s whisper, and, when he turned, he was staring around at their house with awe and sadness. “I’m assuming we’re bonded, but why am I not here? What happened between us? Why are our children afraid of me?”

A loud crash echoed through the kitchen. The plate Barry had been holding was snapped in two in his hands, his knuckles white. “They are _my_ children.” He growled. “You don’t get to call them yours, after _I_ have had to raise them by myself for five years!”

That familiar Snart anger flared, and Len rounded the kitchen island, all Alpha stance. “And _why?_ Why did you take _our_ children from me? What did I do that was so bad?”

Barry flinched when Len stepped into his space. He remembered those nights, locked away in that lair, that his Len would come home tired and angry, and Barry would be wound-up and irritated from being more or less held prisoner, and they would have a fight. He remembered the way his husband would crowd him, scream at him, bully him.

Len jumped away, though, horror in his eyes. “No…” He shook his head as he backed away, putting the island between them again. “I didn’t…I....” He stared down at his hands. Barry frantically shook his head.

“No. God, Len, no. You never put a hand on any of us. I mean, outside of the beating you gave me when we fought as Cold and the Flash after everything was over, but that was work. You never would’ve laid a finger on me or our children, Len. Never.”

“But I did hurt you.” Len squeezed his eyes shut. “I hurt my family. I know that fear in our sons’ eyes. They thought I was going to hurt you, or them. What kind of father was I? What kind of Alpha was I? I’m supposed to protect my mate and family, not…”

Barry sighed, turning his attention back to the dinner he was preparing. “Len…you shouldn’t know too much about your own future. But, for the record, I don’t think you were a bad father. Maybe you didn’t make the best choices, and maybe you weren’t the best husband all the time, but everything you did was to protect us. You just took everything way too far.

“Just…” He licked his lips and shrugged. “We just all have to move on. I’m trying to move past this, your future self _needs_ to move past it, and you just need to…forget about it. Forget about all of this and move on.”

Len threw his arms in the air. “Barry, that’s crazy! I can’t ‘move on’! How am I supposed to forget all of this? I can't move on from something that wasn't supposed to end!”

Barry chuckled humorlessly. “You know, that’s exactly what you told me the last time I saw you, when I told you that it was over. But for you, this isn’t over. You still have your Barry in 2017—you are together, aren’t you?”

Len nodded.

“Good. You have all that to come. We’ve had our bad times, Len, but I would never trade our good times to stop them. They’re what keeps me going. Well, them and our little meta monsters upstairs.”

A warm smile grew on Len’s face. “Do you know their dynamics? What can they all do? I mean, I know that Elise is a speedster, but what are the boys?”

“Joseph can read minds, and Michael makes ice. None of them have shown signs of being Alphas or Omegas, but they still have a few years.” Barry grinned, and Len laughed. “What did the Legends need from me?”

Len frowned, confused.

“You know, your mission?”

“Right.” Len cleared his throat. “The tachyon device that Thawne used as Harrison Wells. We need it to fix the time drive, so we can travel back to 2017.”

Barry remembered it well. He motioned for Len to follow him out of the kitchen, and down a set of stairs that led into a basement-turned-lab space. “Cisco made this for me after we moved here. I can’t go to places like S.T.A.R Labs or the Watchtower since…well, since what happened, because someone might track me and find us. So, we had all of this put here, instead, and Cisco opens breaches every now and then to visit or bring us stuff.”

No more Flash. No more Justice League. No more CCPD. He’d had to restart his entire life, but at least his Len couldn’t find him or his children.

He headed for one of the work tables below where the tachyon device was displayed. He pulled it off the wall and handed it to Len. “I’ve always loved you, Len.” He whispered as their fingers brushed together. “I want you to know that.”

He wanted to kiss Len, to feel those lips against his one more time, but he knew that his time with Len was over. Things were different. He may have been Len’s Omega, but he wasn’t _his_ anymore. He needed to move on. They both walked upstairs, and Barry walked him back to the door.

“I’m sorry.” Len sighed. “I’m sorry for what I did to you, whatever it was. I promise, I will try my hardest to prevent it.”

There were no words to express what Barry was feeling—the hope, yet disbelief that anything would change. So, he just nodded. When the door closed behind Len, it was like a weight raised from his shoulders. He leaned his head against the wood for a second and took a deep breath.

“Kids, dinner is ready!” He called as he straightened himself up and headed for the kitchen. He knew it would take them all a few minutes to get downstairs, enough time to compose himself. When he stepped into the kitchen, though, a drawling voice stopped him in his tracks. The overpowering smell of ALPHA hit his nose.

“It’s about time. I thought he’d never leave.”

Sitting at the island, dressed in his long black coat with his cold gun raised, was Len. _His_ Len. Fear shot through Barry’s body, and his mark throbbed. “How did you…?”

            Len chuckled. “Memories are a funny thing, Scarlet. Like, when you suddenly remember your past self finding where your family is hiding out. The _exact_ address.”

            He rose from his seat and slowly walked over to where Barry was paralyzed in place.

“You can kill me, but please don’t hurt them.” He whispered, not sure what Len was planning. He

            Len, though, just tilted his head, stepping calmly into Barry’s space. “Oh, Scarlet…” Barry resisted the urge to flinch as he raised a hand to his face, brushing his fingers against Barry’s cheek. “I’m not here to kill you. Why would I kill you or hurt our kids? I love you.”

            Without lowering the cold gun, he leaned forward and brought their lips together. Barry hated himself for wanting the kiss. He indulged himself for only a minute before turning his head away, subconsciously baring his throat.

Len nuzzled it for a second before pulling away with a sigh. “I’m going to make this right, Bare. You, me, and the kids are all going far away from here, from the Justice League, from the Society, and no one will be able to find us again.”


End file.
